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Currituck dispatcher talks couple through roadside delivery of baby boy

Posted at 1:20 PM, Jan 31, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-01 08:40:30-05

CURRITUCK Co., N.C. - A couple safely delivered a baby boy early Thursday morning -- thanks to the help of a Currituck County 911 dispatcher.

According to Currituck County, Dispatcher Brandi Leary, who has been with Currituck's 911 Communications staff for four years, helped the couple after they were forced to pull over on the side of Highway 168 in Moyock. The couple had been traveling north when they realized the woman's contractions were very close together and that delivery was imminent.

Brandi Leary

Another dispatcher, Taylor Rolling, called an ambulance to the couple's location from Currituck Emergency Medical Services while Leary gave the couple instructions.

By the time Leary answered the call, the baby's head was already visible to the parents, and with Leary's step-by-step directions the baby was born at 4:32 a.m.

Related: Hampton Roads, North Carolina hospitals welcome first babies of 2019

"He did an amazing job, very calm the whole time. The wife was even helping him, telling him what to do. It was just really surreal when you heard the baby cry. That's when you knew everything was okay," says Leary.

Leary comforted the couple as they waited for the ambulance to arrive and take the family to a hospital, and remained on the phone until paramedics arrived.

According to Currituck County, this is the first time a telecommunicator has talked someone through a complete delivery since Currituck 911 became an emergency medical dispatch center in 2003.